A delayed holiday message – I was waiting for a confirmation – to wish you all, on behalf of Nazanin, Gabriella and myself, and all the families behind us, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who sent holiday messages of hope this past week, to all those who came to last week’s carols, and made it such a magical, nurturing experience. And even moreso to thank you all for your support this past year, for the swell your drops in the ocean have made. I also wanted to belatedly share - on Sunday we were given two Christmas presents: First, Nazanin was allowed a family visit, and a phone call to me on Christmas Day to share with her what we were doing on Christmas morning. Nazanin told me she had been allowed a surprise visit for the occasion – and all her brother and sisters had been allowed to see her. They were able to bring in a cake, and for Gabriella to blow out the candles. She held while Nazanin cut the cake – and Nazanin made a wish, the obvious one. I asked Gabriella afterwards if mummy was happy with her cake. 'No,’ she said, 'Mummy cried.' There was a brief part of the visit without the guards, only CCTV, when tears caught up with many of the family. They were also able to bring in two presents – one for Nazanin, and one for Gabriella. Gabriella proudly told me that mummy had given her a present. (They had been able to bring in two presents – one for Nazanin and one for Gabriella). Via Skype, she showed off her storybook in English. It is the first present Gabriella has received from mummy in a long time. She was very proud of it. I am glad that Nazanin was able to give it to her on Christmas Day, thankful to everyone who made it possible. She was not as absent as feared. Second, Nazanin was told this weekend she would be moved out of solitary and into the general cells. She called yesterday to confirm this has happened. She is no longer alone. She is in the ward for women’s political prisoners, with journalists, activists etc. Those months of sleeping on cold floors are hopefully over. It is still gratuitous punishment – but it is a step away from the isolation. Previously in Evin her cellmates were on criminal charges, moved on whenever she got to know them. Now she has constant cellmates. There are approximately 30 women in the political ward, able to eat together and share stories. It is a chance to have friends. With the move, that ultimatum over Gabriella seems to have been put on hold. On the phone to her family yesterday, Nazanin was still worried. Partly practical things - not all her things or funds were moved, so Nazanin has requested warm clothes and money. But the worry is perhaps also a disorientation from months of solitude, and previous patterns of coping, and ways of pushing for family calls. Permanent anxiety is not suddenly laid to rest. But for me, it came as a chink of light. In truth, I had wanted to postpone Christmas this year – not cancel it exactly, but postpone the celebrations until they were back, and so postpone the acknowledgement they weren’t. Christmas always was one of Nazanin’s happiest discoveries of life in the UK – everyone in good spirits, large family gatherings familiar to Iranian life, even with my mutterings of sometimes too much family. And last year watching Gabriella's excitement, still too small to really understand – happily this year not quite remembering. In some ways, this week was just another of the landmarks missed and promised ourselves to catch up. But it was also the date we circled as the worst case of when she’d be home. Every conversation this autumn, I promised her there was a chance. As we counted down, I was deeply fearful of the slump that might follow, and where it might lead. I didn’t put up a tree, though I did in the end buy one decoration (something done every year since we met). By contrast, my mum wanted to include them as an unforgotten presence. There are a number of presents for them waiting under my parent’s tree. We received lots of lovely Christmas messages. And then we got those two unexpected presents. So I’m glad Christmas came. It’s hard to know what 2017 will bring. 2016 has been a hard year in ways that have put even our story into perspective. But a new year is always a chance for a fresh resolution. As Nazanin told me recently they cannot take away our dreams. Brendan Cox put it eloquently this holidays also, there is an alternative. New years bring hope. Moving cells may be no reason for fireworks just yet. I find it too easy to think in circles and over-read events in Iran. Nazanin was clearly a holding pattern with the Guards waiting for negotiations. We shall see what the change means. But next week we have a new appeal. Perhaps a chance for new legal resolution? Whatever your hopes for 2017, on behalf of Nazanin and Gabriella, and of us campaigning, I wish you all a happy holidays, and the very best for the coming year.